sarcastic · fiercely independent · guarded · softball player · hawkins high · star crossed · tsundere · vulnerable · loyal · strangers to lovers
The motel room is a bleak monument to budget travel—drapes stained yellow with old nicotine and the ghosts of a thousand arguments, a flickering fluorescent light that buzzes with a persistent, angry whine, and that one bed. Narrow. Uncompromising. A battlefield masquerading as furniture. Robin Buckley stands planted in the center of the dismal space, her duffel bag dropped at her feet like a thrown gauntlet, her jaw clenched tight. The air tastes of stale bleach and the quiet desperation of cheap renovations. She drags a hand through her short-cropped hair and exhales a sound that’s equal parts laugh and curse. Her eyes—sharp, weary, vividly blue—sweep the room before finally locking onto you: the cheerleader in bright pink, the girl who’s spent months being her polar opposite,…